Automatic rifle



P B. A. REVEILLI 1,854,064

AUTOMATIC RI LE Filed Oct. 18, 19 29 2 Sheets-Sheet l ".10 3a a 11 A 3518mm April 1932- B. A. REVELLI 1,854,064

AUTOMATIC RIFLE Filed Oct. 18, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 so are fired much BETHEL AIBIEL BEVELLI, 01? mm, ITALY AUTOMATIC mm Application filed October 18, 1928, Serial No. 400,639, and in Italy October 81, 1928.

The automatic rifle which is intended to replace before long the ordinary rifle cannot have a mechanism similar to that of machine guns or machine rifles which are distributed to companies of specialized gunners. I Its weight should not reasonably. exceed that of the ordinary rifle (4 kgs.) otherwise the soldier is unable to carry the necessary ammunition; moreover the weapon should be easily 1o handled, used, dismounted and readily mounted like the rifles now in use and be provided with a non-automatic firing means for use in case the automatic mechanism is damaged. In this case the nner uses the weapon like an ordinary e o ning and closing the breech bolt and handling the rifle by movements well known to him through long ex erience. When the mechanism is arrange for automatic workin the shots more rapidly an easil and without effort, as'advisable in attac sudden defense for physiological reasons.

The automatic rifle according to this invention satisfies all the requirements men- 26 tioned above. The accompanying drawings show a constructional form of my improved rifle- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section. a Figure 2 is a crosssection on line AA'o f 80 Figure 1. e Figure 3 shows the device for transformingthe automatic rifle into an ordinary rifle.

igure 4 is a partial side view. Figure 5 is a vertical cross section on line BB of Figure 4. The rifle has a recoiling barrel and is of the same weight and size as an ordinary rifle.

1 denotes the butt; 2 the breech, 3 the breech bolt, 4 the striker and 5 the barrel.

The automatic closure of the breech bolt 3 is obtained by means of the teeth 3a on the head of the breech bolt, which by a slight rotation are caused to 511 provided on the inner surface of a short rear extension of the barrel 5 recoiling with this latter by a short extent while the breech remains stationary and is brought forward again y a suitable spiral spring 6.

The device for rotating the breech bolt to the closed position comprises a short cylinspring 12 are bent over engage against ribs drical coil spring 12 interposed between the front portion of the striker 4 and the bottom of the breech. bolt 3. The end turns of the lon itudinally and introduced into a correspon ing hole bored in the striker and breech bolt respectively.

The spring 12 works under torque stress and as it is mounted under a certain load it tends to rotate the breech bolt 3 with respect to the striker 4. As this latter is guided in a rectilinear direction in the breech by a tooth 4a movable in a longitudinal groove 21; on the breech, the breech bolt tends to rotate towards its closed position, this rotation taking place at the end of itsforward stroke as soon as its tooth 3a is disengaged from the rectilinear guide groove 20.

It is obvious that the load on the spring 12 is easily adjustable in order to ensure the closure of the breech bolt.

The strikin mechanism comprises a cock 18 provided with a resilient tooth 25 capable of longitudinal movement and adapted to engage with the lower face of a stationary cross-piece 26 of the breech 2 for holding the cock 18 in cocked position when it is tilted backwards.

The trigger 20 is pivoted at 21 to the bridgepiece 15 so that by pulling it backwardly it pushes forward by its upper arm a lever 22 pivoted to the trigger in 23. The lever 22 thus abuts the resilient tooth 25 0f the cock and pushes it forward, until it is disengaged from the cross-piece 26 thussetting free the cock which rotates forward snapping against the. striker 4.

As it is well known the breech bolt recoils so quickly that the cock is tilted backwards and tends to assume its cocked position before the gunner has time to release the trigger, so that the lever 22 is still in itsforward position and the cock remains in cocked position on account of the fact that its resilient tooth 25 abuts under the rod 22. As soon as 6 the gunner releases the trigger, the lever 22 slides backwards between the cross-piece 26 and the tooth 25 until this latter is set free from the lever and abuts under the crosspiece. This takes place successively as the Y A strong coil spring its teethv come opposite the recesses between the teeth 7 a on the breech or on its extension 27 causes the cock 18 7, the barrel recoils and the fire arm is opened I and works automatically. The cock 18 is provided on top with a side Two reference'letters, e. g., rib 18a ensuring the complete rotation of ring clearly denote whether the cock (Figs. 1 and 2) and preventing it arranged for automatic or to come in frontof the breech bolt upon acing. cidental snapping of the trigger when the Figure 1 shows the safety device constibreech bolt is in its rearward position. tuted by an oscillating lever 30 operable by When the breech 2 is detached from the acting upon its lower edge. When this latmagazine by removing the two screws 16 ter is forward the lever'holds the cook 18 fixed which connect both parts exactly as in the in a rearward position such that the resilient Italian rifle Model 91, the magazine and cock tooth of the cock does not bear on the crossremain connected together and the mechapiece 26 of the breech by virtue of the two nism is easily inspected. positions of the safety lever 30 and the right The device for au matically opening the hand projection of the cock respectively, said br h olt 01 firing s wn in F gu positions being such that in order to place the It consists of a disk or roller 13 pivoted to fire arm in the safety position, the cock must the stationary breech 2, that advantageously be rotated through an angle slightly wider trigger is pressed upon by the finger and then released. I

to hit the striker.

A and R on the non-automatic firreplaces the usual inclined surfaces adopted than that required for the cooked position bolt to slide with rolling instead of with the automatic fire arminto an 0rd case of the cartridge in the first automatic fire arms no longer in Should the gunner pull the trigger by muse. The inchned surface always causes a advertence when the fire arm is in the safety considerable friction which hinders the free position, the resilient tooth 25 is'withdrawn rotation of the breech boltand when lubricainto the cock, this latter bein always held tion fails temporarily stops it, so that after t ti under th ti 0 rotation of the breech bolt the gas pressure in The the barrel has already completely vanished 'must place the weapon out of the safety posiand recoil does not take place or is insuflicient. tion by pulling back the outer edge 0 the The disk or roller 13 accordin to this inlever 30 which he easily eflects by his right vention enables the. slipper 3b the breech hand when the fire arm rests on theshoulder. The rifle works as follows:

Supposing the ring shown in Fig. 3 is arranged for automatic firing,

sliding friction and the above mentioned disadvantages are completely obviated. The displacement of the tooth takes place during is not in the safety position, the gunner loads the short recoil stroke of the barrel and causes the weapon by means of a loader the breech bolt to rotatewith respect to the troduced from underneath like the loader of barrel and to become disengaged. The breech an ordinary bolt then recoils further guided by the slipper containing from five to ten cartridges, or 3b that slides in the groove 20, ejectin the even more, arranged in one or in two paralthat has been fire in lel rows as in Lees rifle. the next forward stroke of the breech bolt a By introducing the loader from underfresh cartridge is.pushed into the cartridge th th hole through chamber whereupon the breech bolt rotates cases are ejected is advanta eously made 11. to its closed position underthe action of the li d t the right (or to tie left) and not spr 9 upwards; the cartrid e cases are eje lat Figure 3 shows the device for transforming erally without distur ing the gunner;

inary rifle. over'when the explosion gases escape owing The said device'comprises a ring 113 with to imperfect construction of the cartridges perlpheral teeth 113a rotatably mounted on or other disturbance they cannot, injure the. the barrel and kept against rotation with n A b r of limited size for ejecting respect 150 i l r- The r ng 113 n the cartridge cases has the further advantage rotated through a limited angle by means of p itting a, better protection of the fire of an outer milled button not shown forarm against rain, .dust and mud and of s mplicity sake. The breech 2 or preferably strengthening the breech. its extension 7 is provided with an equal The f th pe atio The gunner opens the breech are the following:

number of teeth 7a opposite the teeth113a.

rotated y Such an itby means of the handle. 14, without an bolt 3 rotating When the r1ng113 is.

Extent that s teeth come against the brech effort for. overcoming the recoil of the barre he introduces a cartridgeinto the'barrel teeth 7a, the barrel cannotrecoil with respect t to the breech and the automatic opening of b fill' the breech bolt does not take it'in with his hand or letting the pl ce a the handle ree to'move forwardhe then pulls that slipper 3b of the breech slipper-3b of the breech bolt does not conthetrigger and fires. tact with. the rotatable disc 13, while when The barrel 5 recoilsbyoa. short extent, the

the ring 113 is rotated in such manner It abuts and-slides the lever 30. gunner is thereby made aware that he and the fire arm.

which is in-' which the cartridge the firearm is automatic pistol, the said. loader on the ring 13 which iscaused. to turn, the breech bolt 3 rotates, opens, recoils, ejects the cartridge case, next moves forward under the action of the returnspring 11, pushes a fresh cartridge into the chamber and remains closed.

These opening operations are effected most rapidly while the trigger is still being abutting under the said rod.

pulled backwardly by the gunner. The rod 22 hinged above to the trigger is still forward, the resilient tooth 25 of the cock 18 By releasing the trigger, the rod withdraws and the resilient tooth 25 of the cock abuts underthe cr0ss-piece 26 of the breech.

, The parts are now again in the initial position andthe next shots are fired by intermittently pulling the tr'gger so long as there are cartrldges in the magazine. 7 A out 50 shots can be fired in one minute.

When cartridges of the usual type are emp lgyed, the firearm is used as an ordinary n e.

Normally the firearm is dismounted by unscrewing the rear plug 8 and pulling back the breech bolt with its' striker. In emergency cases the front and rear screws 16 connecting the magazine with the stationary breech are removed. s

It is well understood that the form and constructional details of the weapon may be varied from the construction which has been described and illustrated by Way of example without departing invention.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic rifie comprising a stationary breech, a barrel at one end of the breech, interengaged toothed connections between the barrel and a slidable breech bolt within the breech, a striker slidably mounted in the breech bolt, a coiled spring connection between the striker and the breech bolt and forming means whereby the interengaged toothed connections between the breech bolt and barrel is maintained and means cooperating with the breech bolt on its rearward movement whereby the barrel will move rearwardly a limited distance, the breech bolt rotated, the toothed engagement disconnected and spring means whereby said striker and breech bolt will be forced to closed position with the toothed engagement between the breech bolt and barrel.

from the spirit of this 2. The combination with an automatic cooperating with the breech bolt. whereby upon rearward movement of the barrel, said toothed connection to move rearwardly, then disengage from the barrel and continue its rearward movement will cause the breech bolt 4 after a partial rotation for the disengaging operation and spring means cooperating with the breech bolt, whereby it will again be moved into toothed interengagement with the barrel.

3. The combination with an automatic rifle comprising a stationary breech, a breech bolt slidably mounted in the breech, a barrel slidably mounted in the breech, a striker slidably mounted in the breech bolt, toothed interengagement between thebarrel and breech bolt, circular rotatable means whereby upon rearward movement of the breech bolt and barrel in toothed interengagement, said toothed interengagement will be disconnected andthe breech bolt will move rearwardly and torque spring means cooperating with the breech bolt whereby upon its forward movement it will resume its toothed interengagement with the barrel and will partially rotate into lockedtoothed barrel.

4. The combination with a sliding bolt of an automatic gun, said bolt having a toothed interengagement with a slidable barrel, of a striker slidably mounted in the belt, a shoulder carried by said striker-and extending into a stationary elon ated slot for preventing rotation of the stri er, a coiled spring carried by the striker within the bolt, one end of the coiled spring being and the other end to the bolt and cam means cooperating with the bolt whereby upon rearward movement thereof the toothed engagement with the barrel will 'be disconnected, the coiled spring tensioned and spring means cooperating with the striker for normally forcing the same forwardly.-

5. The combination with an automatic gun having a slidable breech bolt partially rointerengagement with the tatable against spring action in its rearward movement, of an arm carried by the breech bolt and extending outwardly therefrom in the plane below a guide groove, and an antifrictional roller in the pathof said arm and positioned whereby upon rearward movement of the' breech bolt fsaid, arm will be forced into position where it will enter the guide groove.

6. In combination with an automatic rifle, a breech bolt movable forwardly and rearwa-rdly for automatically loading and unloading said rifle, a revolvable PIOJGCtlOD cooperable with said breech bolt by rolling friction, whereby the breech bolt is rotatedupon its rearward movement, a torque spring operatively connected to said breech bolt, whereby upon its forward movement the breech bolt is rotated in a direction opposite to the first named rotation.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name.

BETHEL ABIEL REVELLI.

anchored to the striker 

